LISHUI, Diocese of. - In the civil province of Chekiang, in central-eastern China. It was erected as an apostolic prefecture, under the name of Chuchow, on 2 July 1931 with 10 civil sub-prefectures detached from the mission of Ningpo (v.) and entrusted to the Seminary for Chinese Missions of Scarboro Bluffs (Canada), now the Society for Foreign Missions of Scarboro Bluffs, whose Fathers had been on the spot since 1926. On 28 May 1937 it changed its name from Chuchow to L., and on 25 June 1940 it was enlarged by the district of Kinhwa (8 civil sub-prefectures that until then belonged to the mission of Hangchow); on 13 May 1948 it was elevated to a diocese, suffragan of Hangchow.
It has an area of 23,484 sq km with 3,309,300 inhabitants, of whom 4,286 are Catholics, served by 5 diocesan priests and 8 regulars, with 8 parishes and 38 churches, 5 educational institutions and 2 charitable ones.
The evangelization of L. is recent: when, in Jan. 1926, the first three missionaries of Scarboro Bluffs arrived there, there were only two Lazarists in the territory, who later returned to the mother mission of Ningpo. The work of the new evangelical laborers developed considerably: in June 1929 there were 2,411 baptized and several catechumens. The annexation of the district of Kinhwa increased the number of the faithful, these too recently converted. The mission suffered greatly during the Sino-Japanese war.
Bibliography6 works
Adamo Pucci